The Illyrian languages are a group of Indo-European languages that were spoken in the western part of the Balkans in former times by groups identified as Illyrians: Ardiaei, Delmatae, Pannonii, Autariates, Taulanti (see List of Illyrian tribes). Some sound-changes from Proto-Indo-European to Illyrian and other language features are deduced from what remains of the Illyrian languages, but because there are no examples of ancient Illyrian literature surviving (aside from the Messapian writings if they can be considered Illyrian), it is difficult to clarify its place within the Indo-European language family. Because of the uncertainty, most sources provisionally place Illyrian on its own branch of Indo-European, though its relation to other languages, ancient and modern, continues to be studied.

Language affinity

The Illyrian languages are part of the Indo-European language family. The relation of the Illyrian languages to other Indo-European languages—ancient and modern—is poorly understood due to the paucity of data and is still being examined. Today, the main source of authoritative information about the Illyrian language consists of a handful of Illyrian words cited in classical sources, and numerous examples of Illyrian anthroponyms, ethnonyms, toponyms and hydronyms.

Given the scarcity of the data it is difficult to identify the sound changes that have taken place in the Illyrian languages; the most widely accepted one is that the Indo-European voiced aspirates /bʰ/, /dʰ/, /gʰ/ became voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/.

A grouping of Illyrian with the Messapian language has been proposed for about a century, but remains an unproven hypothesis. The theory is based on classical sources, archaeology, as well as onomastic considerations. Messapian material culture bears a number of similarities to Illyrian material culture. Some Messapian anthroponyms have close Illyrian equivalents.

A grouping of Illyrian with the Venetic language and Liburnian language, once spoken in northeastern Italy and Liburnia respectively, has also been proposed. The consensus now is that Illyrian was quite distinct from Venetic and Liburnian. A Daco-Thracian affinity has also been suggested (see Thraco-Illyrian).

Beginning in the 18th century, a number of scholars claim the modern Albanian language to be descended from Illyrian.
However the Illyrian data, consisting mainly of hydronyms, toponyms, and personal names (some of them dubious and disputed) and appearing in no inscriptions, may not be sufficient to sustain any clear identification of linguistic affinities.

Centum vs. Satem

In the absence of sufficient lexical data and texts written in the Illyrian languages, the theories supporting the Centum character of the Illyrian language have been based mainly on the Centum character of the Venetic language, which was thought to be related to Illyrian, in particular regarding Illyrian toponyms and names such as Ves-cleves, Acra-banus, Gentius, Clausal etc.

The relation between Venetic and Illyrian was later discredited and they are not considered (directly) related anymore.

Scholars supporting the Satem character of the Illyrian languages highlight particular toponyms and personal names such as Asamum, Birzinimum Zanatis etc. in which these scholars claim that there is clear evidence of the Satem character of the Illyrian language. They also point to other toponyms including Osseriates derived from /*eghero/ (lake) or Birziminium from PIE /*bherg^h/ or Asamum from PIE /*ak^-mo/ (sharp).

Regarding the Illyrian toponymes and personal names like Ves-cleves, Acra-banus, Gentius, Clausal, the supporters of the Centum character of the Illyrian language have tried to explain those names through the comparison with other old documented i.e. languages, such as Sanksrit, or Ancient Greek or reconstructed PIE. For ex. Ves-cleves has been explained as PIE *wesu-k'leves (of good fame).
Also the name Acra-banus as a compound name has been compared with Ancient Greek /akros/ with no signs of palatalization. or Clausal has been related to /*klew/ (wash, rinse)

In all these cases the supporters of the Centum character of the Illyrian language consider PIE *k^ >/*k/ or PIE *g^>/*g/ followed by an /l/ or /r/ to be evidence of a Centum character of the Illyrian language. However, it has been shown that even in Albanian and Balto-Slavic which are Satem languages, in this phonetical position the palatovelars have been generally depalatized (the depalatization of PIE *k^ >*k and *g^>*g before /r/ and /l/ especially in Albanian ).

Even the name Gentius or Genthius does not help to solve the problem since we have two Illyrian forms Genthius and Zanatis. If Gentius or Genthius derives from *g^en- (be born) this is proof of a Centum language, but if the name Zanatis is similarly generated (or from *g^en- know) than we have a Satem language. Another problem related to the name Gentius is the reason that nowadays it can not be stated surely if the initial /G/ of the sources was a palatovelar or a labiovelar.

Taking into account the absence of sufficient data and sometimes the dual nature of their interpretation the Centum/Satem character of the Illyrian language is still uncertain and requires more evidence.

Illyrian dialects

The Greeks were the first literate people to come into frequent contact with the speakers of Illyrian languages. Their conception of "Illyroi", however, differed from what the Romans would later call "Illyricum". The Greek term encompassed only the peoples who lived on the borders of Macedonia and Epirus. Pliny the Elder, in his work Natural History, applies a stricter usage of the term Illyrii when speaking of Illyrii proprie dicti ("Illyrians properly so-called") among the native communities in the south of Roman Dalmatia.

For a couple of centuries before and after the Roman conquest in the late 1st century BC, the concept of Illyricum expanded towards the west and north. Finally it encompassed all native peoples from the Adriatic to the Danube, inhabiting the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Pannonia and Moesia, regardless of their ethnic and cultural differences. A passage in Appian's Illyrike stating that the Illyrians lived beyond Macedonia and Thrace, from Chaonia and Thesprotia to the Danube River, is representative of the broader usage of the term.

An extensive study of Illyrian names and territory was undertaken by Hans Krahe in the first decades of the twentieth century. He and other scholars argued for a broad distribution of Illyrian peoples considerably beyond the Balkans though in his later work, Krahe curbed his view of the extent of Illyrian settlement.

The further refinements of Illyrian onomastic provinces for that Illyrian area included in the later Roman province were proposed by Géza Alföldy. He identified five principal groups: (1) "real Illyrians" south of the river Neretva and extending south of the provincial boundary with Macedonia at the river Drin to include the Illyris of north and central Albania; (2) the Delmatae who occupied the middle Adriatic coast between the "real Illyrians" and the Liburni; (3) the Venetic Liburni of the northeast Adriatic; (4) the Japodes who dwelt north of the Delmatae and behind Liburni, where names reveal a mixture of Venetic, Celtic and Illyrian; and (5) the Pannonian people north in Bosnia, Northern Montenegro, and western Serbia.

These identifications were later challenged by Radoslav Katičić who on the basis of personal names which occur commonly in Illyricum distinguished three dialect areas: (1) South-Eastern Illyrian, extending southwards from the southern part of Montenegro and including most of Albania west of the river Drin, though its demarcation to the south remains uncertain; (2) Central Illyrian consisting of most of ex-Yugoslavia, north of southern Montenegro to the west of Morava, excepting ancient Liburnia in the northwest, but perhaps extending into Pannonia in the north; (3) Liburnian, whose names resemble those of the Venetic territory to the northeast.

The onomastic differences between the South-Eastern and Central areas are not sufficient to show that two clearly differentiated dialects of Illyrian were in use in these areas. However, as Katičić has argued, the core onomastic area of Illyrian proper is to be located in the southeast of that Balkan region, traditionally associated with the Illyrians (centered in modern Albania).

Pan-Illyrian theory

The pan-Illyrism had two components, the archaeology and linguistics. Archeologists were looking for an ethnicity for the Lusatian culture and the linguists for the Old European water names. First French pressed for the Ligurs and Celts but then the German prehistorians and linguists first of all Gustaf Kossinna and following Julius Pokorny, and Hans Krahe linked the Illyrians with the Lusatian culture and Old European water names. Kossinna divided the primitive Indo-Europeans into two groups, North and South Indo-Europeans; he conjectured that the ancestors of Celtic, Illyrian, Greek and Italic people, who belonged to the first group, inhabitated north Germany in the Stone Age and Early Bronze Age and were driven out by Germanic people advancing from Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland about 1800-1700 BC "the first Germans in Germany". Kossinna also stated that at the time of Hallstatt culture which succeeded the Bronze Age of Central Europe, the Illyrian civilization of the valley of the middle Danube was superior to that prevailing among the Celts established in the southern portion of the Germany and elements of the Illyrian civilization found their way not only into the Celtic cradle of the south Germany but also to the territory of the east Germany occupied by Germanic tribes. The earliest use of iron in Central Europe was to be attributed to Illyrians and not to the Celts.
Julius Pokorny located the Urheimat between the Wesser and the Vistula and east from that region where migration began around 2400 BC Pokorny suggested that Illyrian elements were to be found in much of the continental Europe and also in the British isles.

Pokorny's Illyromania derived in part from archaeological Germanomania and supported by contemporary place-names specialists such as Max Vasmer (1928, 1929) and Hans Krahe (1929, 1935, 1940)
Krahe in his work of 1937 as a follower of Pan-Illyrism, discussed the Veneti language known from hundreds Inscriptions as an Illyrian language which form the separate Illyrian branch of the Indo-European language family with the lower Italian Messapian and the Balkan Illyrian. Krahe thought that only the name of the Illyrian and Adriatic Enetos peoples are the same Homer mentiones a people in Asia Minor the Paphlagons as from the Enetai province , and a few hundred years later Herodotus refers to the Enetos people twice, once as Illyrian and again as the occupants of the Adriatic sea Krahe thought that the name of the Illyrian and Adriatic Enetos peoples are the same and if Adriatic Enetos were Venets and Venets were the Veneds mentioned in other sources then Illyrian and Veneds were the same people. The basis of this theory is the similarity of the proper nouns and place names, but most of all in the water names of the Baltic and the Adriatic (Odra, Drava, Drama, Drweca, Opawa, Notec, etc). Having the model of Illyrian in mind he assumed that together these elements represented the remnant of one archaic language.

The problem was that the name of Venets and Veneds is scattered over a huge territory. From British Isles to Baltic Sea and from Northern Italy to Southern Balkans. Since no trace of Illyrians remain in Northern zone the Venets (or Veneds) became the transmitter of the Illyrian place-names and by the end of World War II the Illyrians had become a vast conspiracy of Indo-European place names, now spreading from Gaul to Balkan Peninsula.

By 1950 many of the onomastic irregularities once dubbed Illyrian had now become Old European. First Krahe presented the wiev that the Veneti language forms a separate branch in itself. He noticed that the Illyrian language was made now of some Messapic Inscriptions and a great number of places and proper nouns. From this small item of linguistic material he concludes that : Illyrian is a Centum language and its relationship with German, Italic and Celtic languages lies in that territory of the Urheimat of this language correlates solely with the Lusatian culture. In Krahe's words "All of them the Illyrians, the Italic, and the Venet have..clear connections to the Germans, that is they came from the north ..and later moved to the south" . This meant that the people of the Lusitan culture advanced to the eastern part of the Alps to the historical territory of the Illyrians around 1200 BC

Following Krahe's work, János Harmatta placed Illyrians in South Germany and the Alpine region. Tribes living there would have spoken Illyrian which deferred from Latin, German and Venet. Around the 1300 BC the people of the Barrow-mound culture, the Illyrians moved eastwards and then suthwards along the Danube (the first Illyr migration) and in 750 the people of the Hallstatt C culture expanded toward western Hungary (the second Illyr migration) which gathered Pannonian tribes to itself. 1000 BC is considered the beginning of the historical peoples we call the Illyrians.

In his later work Krahe substituted Pokorny theory with that of Old European hydronymy, a network of names of water courses dating back to the Bronze Age and to a time before Indo-European languages had developed in central, northern and western Europe. He examined the layers of European water names and did so using two theses. The fist thesis was that the oldest layer will alwasys be the one that can not be explained with the language of the peole who currently live on the banks or shores of the given water, and/or consist of a monosyllabic stem carrying a meaning (at times derived or conjugated monosyllabic words). He found that these monosyllabic water names give a system which he called Alteuropäisch (Old European). The network of old European water names comprises waters from Scandinavia to lower Italy, and from the British Isles to the Baltic. It denotes the period of development of the common Indo-European language which was finished by the second millennium BC. Krahe claimed that by that time the Western languages (Germanic, Celtic, Illyrian, so-called Italic group -the Latin-Faliscus, the Osk-Umber along with Venet-Baltic and to some extent Slavic though they still constituted a uniform Old European language and further divided later) had already dissociated from the ancient Indo-European language. The similarities in European water names resulted from the radiation of this old European system, and not from the resemblance of the common words in the later separate languages.

This theory received much criticism, and one of the many critics was that of A. Tovar who demonstrated that the non Indo-Europeans water names in the north of Europe are in majority (later this was used by Theo Vennemann for his Vasconic theory), a fact which Krahe dismiss.

While many scholars placed Illyrian in North Europe other scholars extended the territory of the Illyrian people in the south too (Bonfante, Georgiev etc). One of them Georgiev claimed that "the Pelasg that is the people before the Hellas Greeks, were Illyrian. Their language would have been Indo-Germanic, a dialect of the Illyrian-Thracian language, and Etruskan was a later dialect of the latter. The Thracians and Illyrians would have been the link between the central (Italic, Greek, Aryan) and the southern (Pelasg, Luwiy, Hittite) Indo-Germanic groups".

The Pan-Illyrian theory began with archaeologic findings also its end coincided with it. As Katičić restricted linguistically what is to be considered Illyrian, newer archeological investigations made by A. Benać and B. Čović, archaeologists from Sarajevo,demonstrated that there was unbroken continuation of cultural development between Bronze and Iron Age archeological material, therefore ethnical continuation too and this created the autochthonous Illyrian theory, by which Illyrian culture was formed in the same place (Western Balkans) from older Bronze Age cultures. According to Benac the Urnfield culture bearers and proto-Illyrians were different people. Benac claimed that Urnfield culture migration might have produced several of other migrations in chain reaction (e.g. Dorian migration), however it didn't essentially changed ethnical stability in the area. This theory was supported by Albanian archaeologists and Aleksandar Stipčević which says that the most convincing theory for the genesis of the Illyrians was the one given by Benać, but pointing to Liburnians and their pre-Indo-European and Mediterranean phases in development Stipčević claims that there was no equal processing of Illyrian origin in the different areas of the Western Balkans

Illyrian vocabulary

Since there are no Illyrian texts, sources for identifying Illyrian words have been identified by Hans Krahe as being of four kinds: inscriptions, glosses of Illyrian words in Classical texts, names—including proper names (mostly inscribed on tombstones), toponyms and river names—and Illyrian loanwords in other languages. The last category has proved particularly contentious. The names occur in sources that range over more than a millennium, including numismatic evidence, as well as posited original forms of placenames (Krahe 1955). There are no Illyrian inscriptions (Messapian inscriptions are treated separately, and there is no consensus that they are to be reckoned as Illyrian). The spearhead found at Kovel and thought by some to be Illyrian is considered by the majority of runologists to be Eastern Germanic, and most likely Gothic, while a votive inscription on a ring found near Shkodër which was initially interpreted as Illyrian was shown to actually be Byzantine Greek.

Only a few Illyrian words are cited in classical sources by Roman or Greek writers, and of these only four are identified with an ethnonym Illyrii or Illurioí; others must be identified by indirect means:

Some additional words have been extracted by linguists from toponyms, hydronyms, anthroponyms, etc.:

• Agruvium "along the coast between Risinum and Butua": IE *aĝr-; cf. Skt ájraḥ "pasture, field", Lat ager, Gk agrós, Goth akrs

• Bindus "river god"; cf. Old Ir banne "drop", Skt bindú, vindú "drops, gob, spot", possibly Lat fōns Bandusiae

• Bosona, "Bosna river", literally "running water": IE *bheg-, bhog- "to run"; cf. Old Ch Slav bĕžati "to flee, run", Lith bėgti "to flee", Gk phébesthai "to flee", phóbos "fear", Alb boj "to drive, mate", Eng beck "brook, stream", Middle Ir búal "flowing water", Hindi bhāg "to flee"

• mons Bulsinus, "Büžanim hill": IE *bhl.kos; cf. Eng balk, Middle Ir blog "piece, fragment", Lat fulcrum "bedpost", Gk phálanx "trunk, log", Lith balžiena "crossbar", Serb blazína "roof beam", Skt bhuríjāu "cart arms"

• Derbanoí, Anderva: IE *derv; cf. Eng tree, Alb dru "wood", Old Ch Slav drĕvo "tree", Welsh derw "oak", Gk dóry "wood, spear", drýs "oak, tree", Lith derva "pine wood", Hitt taru "tree, wood', Thrac taru "spear", Skt dru "tree, wood", daru "wood, log"

• Dizēros, Andízētes: IE *digh; cf. Eng dough, Gk teîchos "wall", Lat fingere "to shape, mold", Old Ir com-od-ding "he builds, erects", Old Russ dĕža "kneading trough", Arm dez "heap", Skt dehah "body, form"

• Domator, personal name; cf. Old Ir damnaid "he binds, breaks a horse", dam "ox", Eng tame, dialectal Germ zamer "ox not under the yoke", Alb dem "young bull", Lat domāre "to tame", domitor "tamer", Gk dámnēmi "to break in", dámalos "calf", Skt dāmyáti "he is tame; he tames"

• Loúgeon. Strabo in his Geography mentions "a marsh called Lougeon" (which has been identified as Lake Cerknica in Slovenia) by the locals (Illyrian and Celtic tribes), Lougeon being Strabo's rendition of the local toponym into Greek. cf. Alb lag "to wet, soak, bathe, wash" (< PA *lauga), lëgatë "pool" (< PA *leugatā), lakshte "dew" (< PA *laugista); further akin to Lith liűgas "marsh", Old Ch Slav luža "pool", Thrac Lýginos "river name"

• stagnus Morsianus "marshlands in Pannonia": IE *merĝ; cf. Middle High Germ murc "rotten, withered, boggy", Old Ir meirc "rust", Alb marth "to shiver, shudder", Lith markýti "to rust"

• Naro: IE *nor; cf. Lith nãras "diving duck", Russ norá "hole", Serbo-Croat po-nor "abyss"

• Nedinum: IE *ned; cf. Skt nadas "roarer"

• Oseriates, "lakes"; akin to Old Ch Slav ozero (Serb-Croat jezero), Latvian ezers, Old Pruss assaran, Gk Achérōn "river in the underworld"

• Pelso (Latin authors referred to modern Lake Balaton as "lacus Pelso", Pelso being a hydronym from the local inhabitants), Pelso apparently meant "deep" or "shallow": IE *pels-; cf. Czech pleso "deep place in a river, lake", Welsh bwlch "crack", Arm pelem "to dig"

• Tergitio, "merchant"; cf. Old Ch Slav trĭgĭ (Serbo-Croat trg) "market", Old Russ tŭrgŭ "market", Latv tirgus

• Teuta, Teutana: IE *teuta- "people"; cf. Lith tauta "people", Germ Deutsch "German", Old Eng theod "people", Old Ir túath "clan", Umbrian tota "people", Oscan touto "city", Hitt tuzzi "army"

• Tómaros, Tomorr mountain; cf. Old Ir temel "darkness", Middle Ir teimen "dark grey", Old High Germ demar "darkness", dinstar "dark", Lat tenebrae "darkness", temere "by chance, rashly", Skt tamas "darkness", tamsrah "dark", Old Ch Slav tima "darkness"

• Ulcisus mons, Ulcinium (city), Ulcisia castra; cf. Eng wolf, Old Alb ulk, Alb ujk, Avestan vəhrkō, Farsi gurg, Skt vṛkas, Old Ch Slav vlŭkŭ, Russ volcica, Lith vil~kas, Lat lupus, Gk lýkos

• Volcos, river name in Pannonia; cf. Old Ir folc "heavy rain, wet weather", Welsh golchi "to wash", obsolete Eng welkin "cloud", Old High Germ welk "moist", Old Ch Slav vlaga "moisture, plant juice", vŭlgŭkŭ "wet"

Illyrian anthroponyms

The following anthroponyms derive from Illyrian or are not yet connected with another language unless noted, such as the Delmatae names of Liburnian origin. Alföldy identified five principal onomastic provinces within the Illyrian area: 1) the "real" Illyrians south of the river Neretva in Dalmatia and extending south to Epirus; 2) the Delmatae, who occupied the middle Adriatic coast between the "real Illyrians" to the south and the Liburni to the north; 3) the Liburni, a branch of Venetic in the northeast Adriatic; 4) the Iapodes, who dwelt north of the Delmatae and behind (inland from) the coastal Liburnians; 5) the Pannonians in the northern lands, and in Bosnia, northern Montenegro and Western Serbia. Katičić (1964) does not recognize a separate Pannonian onomastic area, and includes the Pannoni with the Delmatae. Below, names from four of Alföldy's five onomastic areas are listed, Liburnian excluded, having been identified as being akin to Venetic. A Dardanian area is also detailed.

South Illyrian

• Agirrus

• Agron

• Andena (f., attested at Dyrrhachium), Andes, Andis, Andio, Andia

• Annaeus/Annaius

• Antis (f.)

• Ballaios

• Bardyllis

• Bato, Batina, Batouna (perhaps means to strike similar to Latin battuere)

• Birkenna

• Blodus, Bledis

• Boiken

• Boria, Bora

• Breigos

• Brykos

• Cleitus/Kleitos (from Greek

• Daors

• Dasius

• Dazaios, Dazas, Dazos

• Ditus

• Epe(n)tinus (attested at Dyrrhachium; the name is adjectival, meaning "from Epetium", a town now known as Strobeč)

• Epicadus

• Epidius

• Genthena, Genthios, Gentius

• Glaukias (from Greek)

• Glavus

• Grabos

• Laiscus

• Madena

• Messor

• Monunius

• Mytilus

• Pinnes

• Pleuratus

• Pladomenus

• Plare(n)s

• Plator (in Liburnian attested as Plaetor, and in Venetic, Plaetorius)

• Posantio

• Pravaius

• Scerdis

• Skerdilaidas

• Tatta

• Temus, Temeia

• Teuda

• Teuta,Teutana means Queen in Illyrian.

• Tito, Titus (also the Illyrian name of the river Krka)

• Vendes

• Verzo

• Zanatis

• Ziraeus

Delmatae

Hundreds of Delmatae names have been recorded. Characteristic names include:

• Aplis, Apludus, Aplus, Aplius

• Apurus

• Baezo

• Beusas, Beuzas

• Curbania

• Cursulavia

• Iato

• Lavincia

• Ledrus

• Messor

• Paio, Paiio

• Panes, Panias, Panius (or Pantus, inscription unclear), Panentius

• Pant(h)ia/Panto (f.)

• Pinsus

• Pladomenus

• Platino

• Samuntio

• Seio, Seiio

• Statanius, Staticus, Stato, Status

• Sestus, Sextus, Sexto

• Tito

• Tizius

• Tritus

• Var(r)o

Delmatae names in common with the Pannoni (some also occur among the south Illyrians):

• Bardurius.

• Bato

• Carius

• Dasantilla

• Dasas, Dazas

• Dasto

• Plator, Platino

• Scenobarbus, Scenobardos (?)

• Verzo

• Verzulus

Some Delmatae names probably originate from the Liburnians. This conclusion is based on the Liburnian suffixes: -icus, -ica, -ocus, -ico; and from the distribution of the names among the Liburni/Veneti, and from their absence or scarcity in other onomastic areas:

• Acenica

• Clevata

• Darmocus

• Germanicus (the native Delmatae stem Germanus, Germus, with the Venetic/Liburnian -icus suffix)

• Labrico

• Lunnicus

• Melandrica

• Turus

From the southern Illyrians, the names Boria, Epicadus, Laedicalius, Loiscus, Pinnes and Tato and some others are present. From the Iapodes, Diteio and Ve(n)do, and a few names of Celtic origin (not shown here).

Pannoni

Some names attested among the Pannoni:

• Bato (also common among the Delmatae)

• Dasas, Dasius (also common among the Delmatae)

• Scenobarbus (also common among the Delmatae)

• Carvus

• Laidus

• Liccaius

• Plator

• Temans

• Tueta

• Varro

• Verzo

The following names are confined to the Pannonian onomastic province:

• Arbo

• Arsa (possibly Thacian)

• Callo

• Daetor

• Iauletis (genitive)

• Pirusta

• Proradus

• Scirto

• Vietis (genitive)

Northern Pannoni:

• Bato

• Breucus

• Dases

• Dasmenus

• Licco

• Liccaius

Names attested among the Colapiani, an Illyric tribe of Pannonia:

• Bato

• Cralus

• Liccaius

• Lirus

• Plassarus

Among the Jasi: Scenus. The Breuci: Scilus Bato (first and last name), Blaedarus, Dasmenus, Dasius, Surco, Sassaius, Liccaius, Lensus. The Amantini, the Scordisci: Terco, Precio, Dases, Dasmenus.

Messapic

• Dasius, Latin form of a Messapic name.

Illyrian theonyms

The following names of gods (theonyms) derive from possibly several languages (Liburnian, Illyrian, etc.) and are names of Gods worshiped by the Illyrians. We must note that they are known through Interpretatio romana and their names may have been corrupted.

• Eia

• Malesocus

• Boria

• Iria

• Anzotica

• Latra

• Sentona

• Ica

• Bindus

• Vidasus

• Thana

• Medaurus

• Armatus

External influences

The Ancient Greek language would have become an important external influence on Illyrian-speakers who occupied lands adjacent to ancient Greek colonies, mainly in the adriatic coast.The Taulantii and the Bylliones had become bilingual. Invading Celts who settled on lands occupied by Illyrians brought the Illyrians into contact with the Celtic languages and some tribes were Celticised especially those in Dalmatia and the Pannoni. Intensive contact may have happened in what is now Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia. Because of this intensive contact, and because of conflicting classical sources, it is unclear whether some ancient tribes were Illyrian or Celtic origin to begin with Scordisci or mixed in varying degree. Thracians and Paionians also occupied lands populated by Illyrians, bringing Illyrians into contact with the Thracian language and Paionian language.

Yet it was not Greek, Celtic, Thracian, or Paionian, but Latin that would come to displace Illyrian above the Jireček line. The Romans conquered all the lands in which Illyrian was spoken, and it is quite possible that Illyrian faded early in the Common era, perhaps even before the Slavic invasion of the Balkans.

Celtic

The following Illyrian names, most of which occur in inscriptions from the upper Neretva river valley near Konjic in Bosnia, derive from Celtic

• Arvus

• Belzeius

• Cambrius

• laritus

• Lautus

• Argurianus(Thracian or Celtic)

• Ammida(questionable associations)

• Matera(questionable associations)

• Seneca(questionable associations)

• Mellito(Greek & Celtic)

• Nantia

• Nonntio

• Laca

• Madusa

• Matisa

• Nindia

• Poia

• Sicu

• Aioia

• Andetia

• Baeta

• Bidna

• Catta

• Dussona

• Boio

• Bricussa

• Iacus

• Mallaius

• Mascelio

• Kabaletus

• Litus

• Nantanius

• Sarnus

• Sinus

• Sisimbrius

• Vepus

Thracian

The following names derive from Thracian.

• Argurianus(Thracian or Celtic)

• Auluporis

• Auluzon

• Bithus

• Bessus

• Teres

• Celsus

• Celsinus

• Cocaius

• Daizo

• Delus

• Dida

• Dinentilla

• Dizas

• Dizo

Greek

The following names may derive from Greek.

• Agron,("Αγρά",prey or "Αγρός",wild country).

• Mellito(Greek & Celtic),("Μελλιτόεις",like honey).

• Thana ,("Θανατός",death).

• Illyrians,(Ιλλυριοί),Greek exonym

• Plator,("Πλατών",wide man).

• Pleuratus ,("Πλευρά",side).

• Cleitus the Illyrian, ("Κλείω",renowned,Renowned man).

• Glaukias,("Γλαυκός",gleaming,Gleaming man).

• Ceraunii,tribal exonym ,("Κεραυνιοί",Thunderbolt-men).

• Enchelei,tribal exonym,("Εγχελείς",Eel-men).

See also

• List of ancient cities in Illyria

• Messapian language

• Thracian language

• Paionian language

• Venetic language

• Liburnian language

• Albanian language